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A Lazy Weekend in Sorrento

Our close family friends kindly offered me their beach house in Sorrento for the recent Labour Day long weekend. I keenly took up the offer and headed down with my two girlfriends and her poor boyfriend who was dragged (willingly?) along. Even though I was laden with homework, a change of scenery and the promise of some amazing food, cooked by my two amazing friends, lots of wine and g &t’s and good company was a welcome prospect. And, I wanted to check out the house…

The bar, unfortunately I didn't capture the mosaic base. The light in the living room bounces off all the exposed beams, making for a warm glow at sunset.

I had been told it was very retro, but nothing prepared us for the perfectly maintained 70’s masterpiece we walked into. The rounded staircase led from three downstairs bedrooms up to an open-plan living room which featured a huge, brown leather-trimmed bar, complete with two huge brown leather bar stools (pods more like it). The bar base/structure itself had a sort of scattered copper mosaic design. Grace decided it was very Flintstones-esque, I felt like I was in Charlie’s Angels, and it didn’t take long for Georgina to assume her position behind the impressive piece as head barwoman. There were many other retro features including psychedelic, patterned tiling in all the bathrooms, a mustard laminex kitchen, curved timber staircase features and some funky of the era furniture. It was all immaculate, and we were fascinated!

Sorrento House

My morning walks took me along the main drag from Portsea to the main street of Sorrento, past about 3km of the most magnificent ‘looking’ houses. I couldn’t really see much as the blocks were very privately guarded by high fences and so deep that there was a long drive way before you even caught glimpse of a house. I did spot this cute number though, Sorrento House.
Sorrento’s main street was also a sweet surprise, as I haven’t taken a stroll down here for a good few years. Nestled amongst the Sportsgirls’, Witcherys’ and Mimco’s were some gems such as Big Chair Living, essentially a homewares and soft furnishing store which was too big for one shop and seemed to have spilled over into another store on the other side of the road. They sold some beautiful outdoor furniture including some rigid looking outdoor ‘pods’, which I think would look great near the pool of my mum and her partners Greek villa in Kefalonia (more about that later). Grace questioned whether they would be comfortable as they did look quite solid, but after a bit of a poke discovered the ‘netting’ was actually a flexible rubber material which would mould around your behind. At their other store I also spotted these huge animal-designed dining plates which could be the feature of any array of beautiful table settings.

Oh the plates!

After an afternoon session soaking up the sun at the Portsea Hotel whilst sticky beaking and commenting on the theme, dresses, music of the two consecutive weddings taking place on the lawn; many wines; a not so great breakfast, whereby I waited a good 15 minutes for my meal after the others had received theirs; and my first famed vanilla slice I managed to get most of my homework done whilst enjoying the long weekend. We even got some beautiful weather!